The New Night Novels (Book 1): Rippers: A New Night Novel

by Hawley, Ashlei D.

  Phoebe returned to the closet and tapped lightly on the door. She didn’t feel she should risk any loud noises, even though she hadn’t seen anyone threatening outside when she’d peeked through the windows and the front doors. It appeared to her as though she and the kids had been abandoned in an uneasy world.

  “It’s me, Eli,” she whispered through the wood. “Open up, bud.”

  The door handle turned. The click didn’t sound nearly as loud to Phoebe from the outside.

  “Give me a minute here, guys,” Phoebe said as she kept the door mostly closed. “I’m just going to do something real quick and then we’ll work on getting you home, okay?”

  Two pairs of solemn, wide eyes moved with bobbing heads as Hannah and Eli nodded. Carmen stared at the floor, unresponsive. Phoebe decided she would take Carmen home first. Out of the three of them, she would benefit most from the presence of her parents.

  Grabbing the spare blankets, the picnic sheet, and the wide, rainbow colored stretch of fabric used outside for the parachute game, Phoebe held up one finger to indicate to the children she wouldn’t be long.

  “Close the door again and lock it until you hear me,” Phoebe told Eli. “Just in case.”

  Eli pulled the door closed without objection or question. Phoebe heard it lock and nodded, satisfied with Eli’s attention to her words and ability to follow through on her orders. He would be her most important resource on her way to get the kids home.

  She covered the torn bodies as well as she could. Blood soaked instantly through the fabric where the pools were deepest, but it couldn’t be helped. At least now the kids wouldn’t see dismembered, mangled, and blood covered forms.

  Pulling her phone from her pocket and sliding her mother’s there instead, Phoebe checked her service. She still had full bars. Whatever had happened, it hadn’t affected her cell.

  She dialed the number for emergency assistance and got a busy tone. No instructions telling her what to do; no pleasant but brisk voice to give her help or take her information. Once again, they were alone in the universe without anyone to turn to. Phoebe tried calling her Uncle Shaun. The call went through without redirecting or giving her a busy signal, but he didn’t answer. When she got his voicemail, her voice froze in her throat. How to explain what had happened? How could she even try?

  Her Uncle Shaun was the only family she had in the whole state. He was her father’s brother, and Phoebe hadn’t talked to her dad in over three years; since he bailed on her eleventh birthday party. Without her mom, her Uncle Shaun was the only person she knew how to reach who might possibly care about the situation she was in.

  Phoebe hung up the phone after leaving a mute, twenty-second voicemail. He’d know she’d called, at least, she told herself. Maybe he would know to expect her sometime soon. She’d decided her Uncle’s farm was her best bet for finding some kind of security. She would drop the kids off with their parents, and then she would make for her Uncle’s home on the countryside, far away from the city.

  The plan solidified a cool kind of calm within her. It rested within her mind like frosted glass. One experience might shatter it, but for now, it would protect her from the cold of her drastically changed world.

  “Come on, guys,” Phoebe said as she reopened the door. “We’re going to try to go to Carmen’s house first.”

  Chapter Five – Carmen’s House – Phoebe

  The van sat outside of the daycare center. In the far kiddy-corner of the small parking lot, it remained locked and unmolested. No looters had targeted the vehicle. No one had made away with it, even though the keys had been easy to access and there had been no one around to protest. Phoebe wondered if the crazy men had left on foot, and then decided it didn’t truly matter to her. They were gone for the moment. That was the only thing important to her.

  Phoebe made Hannah, Eli, and Carmen wait just inside the front door as she looked around the outside of the building. In the play area, torn bodies drew attention away from the merry-go-round and the swing sets. Phoebe had helped paint them their childish shades of sky blue and bright green. She focused on the paint and on looking for motion or lurking shapes instead of her mother’s prone form. She couldn’t go to her, because she would collapse beside her and never leave. The kids needed her, she told herself. The kids, the kids, the kids. That was all she could think about, and thoughts of their safety were all that she presently allowed in her troubled mind.

  No one wandered around outside. No one glared out at her through the windows of businesses or homes nearby. The world was an empty, unsettling thing. She felt as though perhaps all of the monsters had receded to the shadows and would appear with the night. The thought sent trembles of discomfort through her limbs. She suddenly wanted nothing more than to be in the van, even if the thought of driving it filled her with trepidation, as well.

  Returning to the front door, Phoebe ushered the kids out with waves and whispers. “Right to the van, guys. Go fast.”

  Eli and Hannah ran. Phoebe had to drag Carmen along by the hand.

  They got to the van and Phoebe soundlessly popped the locks using the key fob on her mother’s keychain. The doors opened easily, and she got all of the kids in the backseat before she even thought about buckling them in. She hopped in through the driver’s seat and relocked the doors before turning around to the children.

  The car seats, she thought with agitation. She almost hit herself on the head. Of all the stupid things to forget. There were emergency car seats in the daycare, but only two of them. There were a couple of boosters, but none of the three kids were big enough for boosters.

  Phoebe chewed on her bottom lip as she looked from the kids to the daycare. She could just buckle them with the seatbelts, couldn’t she? It was an extraordinary circumstance, she told herself, and she really didn’t want to go back into the daycare.

  Her hand hovered over the lock on her door. It wouldn’t take long to go in and get the car seats, she told herself. But strapping them in would take considerable time and effort, especially seeing as she wouldn’t stand outside for it. She’d stay in the backseat with the kids, crouched down and cramped.

  They could die if they got into a crash. That thought more than any other made Phoebe put her hand on the lock and pull it up. She wasn’t an experienced driver and she was on edge. The least she could do was try to ensure the kids’ safety by putting them in proper seats.

  Phoebe closed the door after she had shimmied out and depressed the lock once more. She had the keys tightly gripped in her hands as she moved forward. She knew the kids were as safe as she could make them; as long as they stayed locked in the car.

  The parking lot remained as empty as it had been when she’d taken the kids to the car. She reentered the daycare and grabbed two of the large car seats, one in each hand. Because she didn’t want to make another trip inside, she wedged one of the booster seats under her arm and waddled to the door.

  A quick check outside told Phoebe she and the kids were still without company of any kind. She butted the door open with her hip and hauled the car seats through. She would move more slowly with all of them in hand, but at least she wouldn’t have to go back inside again.

  When she got to the door of the van, she had to drop the car seats from her right hand so she could activate the unlock button. Even with the noise and her being an easy and exposed target, nothing came at them. The lack of activity unnerved her almost as much as her first sight of strangers tearing apart bodies in the play area of the daycare.

  The car seats took surprisingly little time to get established in the backseat. As the oldest and largest, Eli went in the booster seat. They drove away from the daycare and toward Carmen’s house within ten minutes.

  Though Eli’s house was closer, Phoebe had already decided she would take Carmen home first. She would backtrack to Eli’s home and then to Hannah’s if the experience with Carmen’s family went well.

  She stopped the van in front of the one and half story house and
waited for her shaking to stop. Even without anyone else on the road, the drive had been scary. She wasn’t used to being in the driver seat without her mother beside her; coaching her on what street signs meant and when she could merge lanes.

  Before the tears could start up again, Phoebe turned so she could address the kids in the backseat.

  “Okay, guys, I’m going to go inside for a minute. Once I talk to Carmen’s parents, I’ll come back out and get you. Stay here and stay quiet with the doors locked until I get back. Got it?”

  Eli nodded, though his eyes were unfocused, which troubled Phoebe. Hannah had fallen asleep. Carmen stared at the back of the passenger seat and said nothing. Phoebe didn’t know if what she planned to do would help any, but she did know at fourteen-years-old, she did not have enough of a handle on things to care for three severely traumatized children.

  Phoebe didn’t trust what waited for them within the house. She was cautious enough to want the kids to stay in the car until she’d cleared the area.

  “I’ll be back,” she promised before she unlocked her door. She didn’t leave the vehicle running, but she did lock the doors from the outside when she stepped out.

  She had looked up and down the street as far as she could see before she got out. She hadn’t seen anyone; not those who looked crazy nor anyone who looked sane. If there was a chance to go without being seen or assaulted, she figured there wasn’t a better time than then.

  Phoebe approached the door. She watched her footing and attempted to make her movements as fluid and silent as possible. A random memory of playing ninjas with her dad when she was younger invaded her brain and worked to convince her body they were still just playing games. She didn’t have much better luck being stealthy at fourteen as she had when she was half that age, she lamented to herself.

  After a few timid knocks on the door, Phoebe increased the volume of her strikes. She thought she heard a crash from somewhere deeper in the house, but couldn’t be sure. The sound could have come from one of the neighbors, or even the home behind Carmen’s family dwelling. Just because she thought it came from the child’s family home didn’t mean there was someone threatening inside who’d been alerted to Phoebe’s presence by her knocking.

  The effort it took to convince herself she was safe and would continue to stay so made Phoebe freeze. Something in her mind began to slide toward a dangerous shift. If she couldn’t convince herself that she was safe, if she in fact knew that at any moment she could be attacked, killed, or worse, then she had to come to terms with it at that moment. Trying to convince herself otherwise would lead to either idiocy or madness. She didn’t want to be an idiot and she was fairly certain she wasn’t insane.

  Phoebe put her hand on the door handle and turned. She was unsurprised when it moved easily in her hand. She pushed the door open and stepped inside.

  “Hello?” she called. “Mr. and Mrs. Morales? I’m here to drop Carmen off. Something happened at the daycare and…” She trailed off. No one would answer her. She felt certain of it.

  Another crash resounded through the house. Whatever had made the sound was definitely inside, not in a neighbor’s home. When Carmen’s bloody parents burst through the threshold leading to one of the back rooms, Phoebe had already turned and started to run back to the van.

  Howls erupted from behind her; high, feral, and hungry. Phoebe didn’t look back at all as she pushed herself to make it to the van as quickly as possible.

  Keys in hand, Phoebe mashed her thumb on the unlock button as she sprinted forward. She slammed into the driver’s door. She’d been moving so fast she hadn’t been able to stop herself in time. She wrenched the door open and threw herself inside. Carmen’s parents tumbled out of the open door and screeched in the direction of the van.

  Phoebe shoved the keys into the ignition and started the van. Forgoing her seatbelt in favor of getting out of there as fast as possible, she pushed the accelerator down after jerking the gearshift back. The van shot forward. The garage door crumpled under the impact.

  A surge of panic swept through Phoebe as she corrected herself and put the gearshift into reverse. “Come on, come on!” she exclaimed. She eased the accelerator down with more caution. The van reversed down the driveway; not as fast as it had to implode the garage.

  Carmen’s parents threw themselves at the moving vehicle, but they seemed slower and weaker in the sunlight than they had in the halls of the darkened house. The most they did as Phoebe steered past them was snarl and reach out for the passing van.

  They returned to the street, where at least the only prominent danger was Phoebe’s inexperience. Her hands shook on the wheel as she fought to remember where she’d planned to go next and what they could possibly do.

  For the first time since they locked themselves in the closet for safety, Carmen spoke. “Where’s my mommy?” she asked in a whisper.

  Phoebe parked the car against a curb and cried.

  Chapter Six – The Convenience Store – Leland

  Leland had run until his legs burned and his chest felt as though an alien being was about to burst out of it. He may have been a sports fanatic, he may have been deeply involved with football, but he was convinced he had never run farther or faster in his life. He didn’t know exactly what time it was but the sun had set. That indicated it was at least 9p.m. Being out in the dark didn’t sound appealing to him, so he sought temporary shelter while he walked.

  The country road had been abandoned the whole time he’d been running. He didn’t like to think about why that was. He did know he wanted to get out of the open. Possibly, he wanted to find a car he could use. He hadn’t thought to take the vehicles of any of his family members. Getting their keys would have required him to go downstairs into what had surely been Hell. He shivered as he felt himself being dragged back by the bloodied fingertips of memories from the family party. No, he couldn’t have brought himself to get any of the keys.

  He found a convenience store located on an otherwise unoccupied corner. The County Line Store was a stout and proud collection of bricks, wood, and natural stone. It advertised beer, liquor, lotto, and the fact that it accepted EBT. Leland had never understood the point of advertising the acceptance of EBT at a liquor store, but to each his own in his mind.

  There were no cars packed in the parking lot of the convenience store. Even with the deserted lot, the door was chocked open to let the sweet summer air inside. Leland poked his head inside and looked around for a moment before he called out.

  “Hey, anyone in here?” he asked. He heard no movement and saw no evidence of anyone being in residence.

  Moving cautiously, he stepped inside. He considered taking away the cinder block to let the door swing closed, but he wanted to make sure he would be alone in the store before he tried to make it appear as though the place was truly deserted.

  Leland moved behind the counter first. The register was closed and appeared to be untouched. If there had been a robbery, nothing had been taken or moved out of place. A screwdriver sat beside the register, inconspicuous enough to appear to have been forgotten after maintenance. Leland was sure it had been left there as a defensive weapon that wouldn’t immediately draw attention to itself. He took it and got the feel of the weight in his palm. It reassured him.

  A can of wasp killer had been forgotten on the counter. It looked as though a customer may have been in the middle of a transaction when the store was cleared out. Leland took the wasp killer and slid it into his pocket. He’d sprayed for wasps for his Aunt Rose last summer. He knew how far the stream on the cans went, plus the stuff burned like crazy if it got in the eyes. He knew from experience. Anymore of those crazy freaks came at him and he would spray or stab them, depending on their proximity and his instincts.

  Leland checked through the aisles and in the back storage areas. The cooler and the spacious area where freeze drinks and soda supplies, extra bags, cleaning supplies, and overstock were stored were empty of human life, as well. The conven
ience store was completely empty.

  He returned to the door, moved the brick, and twisted the lock. He felt the most secure he had since he saw the two crazies on his aunt’s front lawn.

  Sitting behind the register with a bottle of cola and a bag of barbeque chips, Leland wished for his phone. He wanted to check online for news or call someone for help. There wasn’t a phone in the store that he could see. The owner probably had a cell and didn’t care to pay for a landline.

  Even without a way to reach the outside, Leland thought of the little store as the perfect place to lie low for a while. He needed to gather his thoughts and plan what he would do from that point on. What he didn’t want to was think about what had happened at his aunt’s house. What he had permitted to happen to his nephew when he ran away.

  The less he wanted to think about those things, the harder they pressed on him until he could think of nothing other than Drayton’s tiny cries. Even when he tried to tell himself he didn’t know the first thing about taking care of a baby, his guilty conscience insisted his excuses were all made to disguise his cowardice.

  Rubbing his hands briskly over his face, Leland considered the shelves of alcohol behind the register.

  His dad had let him try his beer a few times and his Uncle Tony had given him a shot of vodka and made him chase it with Sprite once. Leland stood and took down a small bottle of rum from the shelf. He’d heard his Uncle Tony say once or twice that he enjoyed rum and cola together. Because he already had the cola, he figured he might as well try to add the liquid that went well with it.

  Leland sat and twisted open the cap on the bottle of rum. He sniffed the amber liquid and found it wasn’t too abrasive in his nose. He tipped the bottle back against his lips and let the warm alcohol slide over his tongue. The trail of heat hit him like a shot of fire in the chest and he coughed in surprise. He chased the mouthful of rum with three drinks of the cola and let it sit.